Hola amigos,
Questions for the day, does contact with native speakers equate to increased cultural empathy in our students? What are the benefits and drawbacks to having students come into contact with native speakers? If you were to create guidelines for teachers who wanted put students into contact with native speakers for cultural purposes what would the most important thing be?
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I think that contact with native speakers WILL create empathy in our students, but only if they are properly "prepared". I'm not sure what the key is to preparing them, but I think that one-on-one type time, where students truly get to know native speakers is the most valuable. Like we talked about in class, familiarity can breed contempt, so we need to move members from the target culture from being exotic in our students' minds, hopefully skip over the contempt (or overcome it if it already exists), and get to a place where they develop relationships. It seems to me that anglos from areas with a high "hispanic" population either start to embrace hispanic culture because of the friends they have made OR have negative feelings towards hispanics. I'm not from an area with a high hispanic population, so maybe some of you who are could share your feelings on that subject...
While I do believe that having the students interact with native speakers has an enormous amounts of benefits, there is no guarantee that the students will come away with empathy. I think this is so due to the fact that they have had limited contact with N.S. in the past, therefore it is possible that other cultures are still perceived as static. When "contact" occurs (it's like they're aliens or something...) they may be expecting to see the vision they've cultivated over the years, and when they don't (aka, they find out that "native speakers" are actually just regular people), they may be disappointed and come away with negative impressions. Like Sarah says, they can come away from these experiences WITH empathy if they are prepared first. For example, give them the tools/knowledge to understand that many of the social dynamics existant in our society are also present in others (ie, rich vs. poor, US-friendly vs not-so-US-friendly, reserved vs. outgoing, irritating vs. "cool", etc). In the same way, seeing them as real people will hopefully inspire respect and empathy for them. I think that in order to prepare students to meet other folks is first, to recognize how people interact with each other in their own society, and then ask them to consider the same question in regards to other cultures. Other background investigations could be helpful as well. Okis, that's all.
I agree with Matt and Sarah. Preparation is the key. Though I believe that interviewing native speakers is, by far, the best cultural activity we have read about so far (due to the fact that students actually use the language skills they have acquired to learn about the target culture first hand), I don't believe that it will be a guaranteed "silver bullet." I have known many people who, after spending two years living in another culture, have the same negative attitude towards it, have developed one, or have gotten more spiteful in their views. Thus, preparation is the key. Like Matt says, students need to realize that they, as we do, have different personalities, etc. I know this is sad to think that mature college students will fall into the notion of stereotypes, but it seems that we--as human beings--just love to categorize.
Like has been said, I don't think that contact with native speakers in and of itself automatically creates empathy. I'm sure there are some returned missionaries who have served abroad and who still have negative feelings towards the culture. However, while it's not automatic, I do think that can be one of the best ways to help students develop empathy toward the culture. Like Sarah said, I'm not sure either what the key might be in preparing them. However, hopefully as we teach culture in the classroom we can help them to look at different cultures in a new light. Then as they are exposed to native speaker, they may be better prepared to develop that empathy within themselves.
Maybe part of preparing our students is having them identify and evaluate their own expectations for the interview experience, and then having them reevaluate those expectations afterward. This could help students become aware of and articulate some of their unconscious ideas about native speakers.
I won't assume it would help all students, but I think it could help those that are sincerely interested in accepting the target culture.
I don't think empathy comes automatically by putting anyone in any situation, but being in contact with native speakers sure does increase the probability. I believe that there is also a certain level of empathy that CANNOT be achieved WITHOUT contact with native speakers.
Students can create relationships with people from other cultures and become somewhat emotionally invested in the culture. However, students may still stereotype. I think that it would be important for contact to occur in a way that can be prolonged and not just a one-time occurrence. This can best happen one-on-one.
My experiences with native speakers created mixed emotions. Some natives and I really got along in the mission. That wasn't the case with all. I remember at times being tempted to blame Chileans (I still am at times since it was usually the Chileans that I didn't get along with) when in all likelihood some of the missionaries were just problem makers and I was lucky enough to be with them. So, I guess what I'm saying is that some contact with native speakers can either be wonderful or it could backfire in that personality clashes or misunderstandings may wrongly lead to less of an appreciation for the culture. That was my experience at times. Luckily, I had time to sort it all out and come to love the people and their culture, but it took some time. Can we really expose our students to enough?
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